To help establish green practices in their community, Pepco’s employee resource group, Eco-Team DC, regularly volunteers at the Hustlaz 2 Harvesters Applied Research Garden in Washington, DC. The city garden provides fresh produce to community members who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods and helps establish meaningful connections within the community.

Hustlaz 2 Harvesters manages the garden in partnership with Garfield Terrace Residence Council, Black Nickel Inc, and Futures First.

Denise Wojcik, a proud member and chapter vice president of Pepco’s Eco-Team DC, first established support for the garden in January 2021.

“The most important thing right now is helping the garden achieve its goal of being a nutritious food source in the community,” she said. “Eco-Team DC’s mission is to promote, support, and drive implementation of green practices that are good for the planet, good for the company, and good for employees and the community.”

The Pepco employees lend a hand in gardening, painting fences, organizing office and storage space, and more. In addition to helping the organization with its goal of addressing food insecurity, the Pepco employees also provide a connection to the energy industry for young volunteers who are interested. One of Hustlaz 2 Harvesters’ goals is to provide its garden as a bridge to STEM programming for youth groups who volunteer.

Pepco’s Eco-Team DC and Governmental and External Affairs representatives successfully assisted the garden’s team in securing a grant of $3,500 to get a much-needed shipping container and solar panel kit. The repurposed shipping container provides a secure place for its applied research tools, and the solar generator powers all the garden’s equipment, including lights and security cameras.

Muhsin Umar, co-founder of Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, praised these efforts: “Having Pepco’s support shows us that they want to see our community thrive. When Pepco’s team comes to the garden, they come in numbers, and they come ready to work—whatever the task, as a collective, we work together and finish our stage of work.”

With the garden’s new direction and leadership, and strong support from the community and organizations, what started as neglected space is now a beloved and evolving community resource. Due to all of these efforts, the garden has laid the groundwork for success and is on track to complete current projects to enable a strong 2022 growing season.

To learn more about the garden, follow @hustlaz2harvesters on Instagram. Read Pepco’s blog, The Source, for more featured stories about the company.

Tags : Innovative Partnerships, All